Standing with Muslims For the Cause of the Gospel

At the Islamic Society of North America’s annual convention last weekend, civil rights activist Linda Sarsour enjoined her fellow Muslims to live out their faith by committing themselves to justice. She said that, when asked to explain their faith, not to talk about the five pillars of Islam. “That is only helpful if the person wants to convert.” Instead, a Muslim should explain her faith by speaking out about social issues in her community. This kind of response wields power to not only explain Islam, but to effect change and create justice. “The most impactful form of da’wah [preaching or proselytizing],” said Ms. Sarsour, “is being part of the social justice movement.”

A Baptist seminarian, I was attending the convention as part of the Shoulder to Shoulder campaign for interfaith solidarity. My first thought in response to Ms. Sarsour’s prophetic call welled up out of my own tradition: “That’ll preach.” As she spoke, I had a message for my own community writing itself in my head. I feel the call of my faith to do that thing called “evangelizing,” to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. The life and example of Jesus convicts me to the cause of compassion. To be Christian, therefore, I need to speak words of life and healing. But that word, “evangelizing,” also carries with it the frightening specter of proselytizing. I wonder what it means to witness to my faith underneath the shadow of Christian colonialism and privilege. How can I evangelize, when so many have caused so much pain in the name of spreading the gospel?

Ms. Sarsour converted me anew to the cause of evangelism. Not to make any kind of claim on the soul of another, but to give voice to the claim that is on my soul. Her faith impels her to speak out against oppression, to chastise her fellow Muslims who would even wonder if they should care about events in Ferguson. If I understand correctly the example of the Christ, I can do no less.

Less than a week after the ISNA convention, the enthusiasm I felt at Ms. Sarsour’s message turned to outrage and heartbreak when I learned that Ms. Sarsour and a companion were chased by a white man through the street in Brooklyn, who yelled obscenities and told them that he was “going to cut your heads off like your people did to us.”

One week ago, Ms. Sarsour said one must speak her faith through words of solidarity and deeds of justice. Today, I heed her words.

In the name of the one who condemned those who condemn, I denounce those who wound with words of violence.

In the name of the one who warned that he who lives by the sword, will die by the sword, I denounce those who live with the weapons of hate and of privilege always in their hands.

In the name of the one who returned to life in defiance of an unjust execution, I denounce the cynicism of those who defend evil as “the way things are” and the apathy of those who have lost the imagination for a better world.

In the name of the one who was moved with compassion for the masses, I denounce the hardness of heart by which a Christian will not be converted to the just cause of a Muslim neighbor.

3 thoughts on “Standing with Muslims For the Cause of the Gospel”

Thank you for this strong article. You bring new life to words some have thrown away like evangelism and you challenge me to live out the hard reality of solidarity rather than just talk about how wonderful the would could be.

As an interfaith citizen, I have shied away from using the term “da’wah” (Proselytizing) when I speak to both Muslims and non-Muslims, fearing that it may interfere with buidling interfaith bridges. But your perspective reminded me that Da’wa in Islam is not about converting people to our religion. It is about reminding people about God and guiding them on the path to God.

Thank you both for your kind responses! The shortness of the post belies the long process that I actually took to reclaim the word “evangelism” in my own faith. It required decoupling the term from the understanding that has come to dominate evangelistic discourse, which is essentially that the term means “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?” and encouraging people to recite the sinner’s prayer. If anything, this is preaching the Pauline epistles more than it is preaching the gospel (not that the Pauline epistles do not have immense value). As you put it so well, Dina, “guiding people on the path of God” is not the same as pushing religious conversion. Trying to convert people to God’s cause in the world is not the same as trying to get them to make a religious confession. Peruvian liberation theologian Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez says that in order to be truly Christian, one needs to be “converted “to the cause of the poor. This includes Christians who have confessed Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.

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About State of Formation

State of Formation, founded as an offshoot of the Journal of Interreligious Studies (JIRS), is a program of the Betty Ann Greenbaum Miller Center for Interreligious Learning & Leadership at Hebrew College and Boston University School of Theology.